Air-brake mechanism



Jan.. 20, 1925.

J. DEMARCO AIR BRAKE MECHANISM Filedl Jan.' 12, 1924 Ils fm/f/v Taf-f: lE?. 5. daje/'Jemar'co way 17 at proper times.

Patented Jan. 20, i925.

JOSEPH DEMARCO, 0F KOLZE, ILLINOIS.

AIR-BRAKE Meenemen.

Application filed January 12, i924.

To all whom t may 00a-cera:

Be it known that I, Josemi DEMARCO, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kolze', in the county ot Cook and State ot Illinois, haveinvented certain new and uselul Improvements in irdrake IiIechanism, oiwhich the following is a speciiicat'ion.

This invention relates to air-brakes particularly with reference toair-brakes'used on steam and electric railroads. The inven tion has forits object providing a simple and very effective air-brake' mechanism bymaterially modifying certain parts ot the airbrake mechanisms which arein `general use. Other objects' oiLl the invention will be apparent upona consideration or the accompanyingl drawings and the followingdescription thereof.

Of the drawings F ig. 1 is a plain view of an air-brake mechanism whichembodies the features of my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlai-ged centralsectional view of the brake cylinder and auxiliary reservoir therefor.Fig. 3 is a `central sectional' view ot' a dust collector ol the system,along the line 3-3 or' Fig. 4; F ig. 4 is a sectional view along thelineof 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Theportion of the air-brake mechanism to which I have shown my inventionas ap'- plied comprises the air-brake cylinder 5, the auxiliaryreservoir 6, to which is attached an'ordinary triple valve 7, and thedust collector 8 together' with my connecting pipe 9, and the ordinarypipes 10 and 11, cut-out cock 12, and angle cock 13.

Ordinarily the cylinder 5 and the reservoir 6 are either entirelyseparated or have distinct casings which are in so-me manner conne'ctedtogether. I provide, however, a single casing 16 for both t-he cylinder5 and reservoir so that it is unnecessary to connect them in any waywhen assembling or installing, and the jarring of the car cannotloosentheconnecting bolts, cause leakage or otherwise disable the elements. Inconnection with this modiiication, I provide the combined casing of castiron or steel and provide in the wall of the reservoir (5 a. passageway17 by means of which the air is transmitted from the triple valve 7 tothe cylinder 5 when the brakes are to'be applied. My invention comprisesthe ordinary triple valve 7,` and it will be understood that this valveallows the air to pass into the passage In o-rder to provide thepassageway 17 in the wall ot the reser- Serial No. 685,774.

voir, I provide the offset 18 in the wall so as to allow the passageway17 to open into the cylinder. n

lVithin the cylinder 5, I provide a piston 2() having a piston rod 23 tothe outer end of which is iiXed a fork 22 or other suitable means forconnecting the piston stem with the ordinary braking mechanism. Thepiston rod 23 of the stem has a bore 24 extend' @5 ing substantiallyhalfway through the rod which is adapted to receive a rod25 to which isfixed the fork 22. 'ihe sleeve 26 oi" the stem passes through theopening 27v oi" thel end plate 28 or the. cylinder, so that the 70entire piston stem is at liberty to move outwardly through the opening27 sutiiciently to set the brakes. rIhe inner end of the rod 23 has areduced portion 30 which passes through the piston 2() and is heldtherein bv 75 means of the nut 31. l

The valve end of the reservoir (3 is adapted to receive the ordinarytype ol triple valve 7 by means of an opening 32 in the end plate but Iprovide in this end plate openings tor 30 receiving bolts 34 iorbolting` the triple valve to the end plate. To prevent the bolts fromturning I provide ,the inwardly projecting shoulder 3t By placing thebolts 34 in the openings of the end plate the valve 7 may be 85 iirmlybolted to the end plate, and I thus prevent the danger of the bolts,which are ordinarily screwed into the end plate, from breaking oli' whenthe elementsV are to be separated. However, in order to more con- 00veniently connect the triple valve to the end of the reservoir, whensuitable flanges 3G are provided on the triple valve, I provide theflange 37 and openings therein for receiving bolts, and in such a casethe necessity 05 of inserting the bolts 34 within the cylinder isavoided and the assembling is more conveniently carried out.

A part oi' my invention comprises a modi- Vlication ot' the ordinarysystems for assem- 10o bling the dust collector 8 and the casing ot thestrainer 15. In order to prevent any breakage or leakage of these parts.or the jarring or shifting oi the. various elements. I provide acombination element illustrated in Fig. 4 which comprises the dustcollector 8, the connections 40, 41 and 42 for the air pipes, and thecasing 43 for the strainer, all integrally formed troni ast iron orsteel. By the use oi this compount. member all connecting means areeliminated and the danger of breakage is very materially lessened andthe danger of leakage is substantially eliminated. This compound elementis connected with the ordinary airpipes l0, and in order to provide forrunning this pipe to the opposite side of the ear I provide a 45 degreeangle T 44 integral with the compound element. I thus provide two pointsof connection 4l and 42, either one of which may be used and the otherplugged depending upon where the main airpipe is to go from that point.In the compound element I provide an ordinary form of strainer l5through which all air must pass to the dust collector 8 and hence to thelocal b 1ake cylinder 5 and reservoir 6.

I also provide the special form of dust collector 8, which, asexplained, is integral with the strainer casing and pipe connectors.This dust collector comprises a cylindrical casing 45 into which the airpasses from the main pipe through the opening 46 andV from which the airpasses to the reservoir 6 through an outlet 4T to which is connected thecut-out cock 12. The air passing into the casing 45 passes downwardlyinto the casing and as the casingl is materially enlarged the velocityof the air therein is materially decreased and the dust lin the airsettles, as is common with ordinary types of dust collectors, in thebottom of the casing and beneath the retaining member 50. An opening isformed iu the side of the casing 8 in which a plug 48 is inserted. vWhenit is desired to remove the dust from the bottom of the casing the plugmay be removed.

In order .to more completely remove the dust from the air which ispassing into the braking mechanism, I provide spiral ribs 49 which forcethe air downwardly as it enters the Vcasing carrying with it anyentrained dust and the dust is forced outwardly by centrifugal actionagainst the wall of the casing and is pushed downwardly along the spiralanges and into the bottom of the casing, while the air works inwardlyaway from the spiral ilanges and upwardly into the outlet 47.

In this manner I provide a very effective dust collector, but in lorderto more thon oughly eliminate all dust from the braking mechanism Iprovide a strainer 52 which is connected to the inner end 58 of theoutlet 47. This strainer is placed in a position where the air passinginto and out of the dust collector and around the walls thereof iscontinually forcing the dust oil' from the walls of the strainer. Notonly is the strainer positioned with reference to the air currents sothat air is driven through from one side to the other continually, butalso air passes more or less into and out of the inlet through thestrainer owing to the action on the air of the triple valve. When thevalve closes the passageway the air bounds back through the strainer 52forcing the dust therefrom. So that clogging of the strainer issubstantially eliminated. Butas a further precantion the strainer is soplaced that it can be easily reached and cleaned by removing the plug48, or it may be entirely replaced without inconvenience if necessary.

In order to still further reduce the danger of breakage or leakage owingto the shifting of the car or the relative. movement of the variousparts of the air-brake system, I provide a flexible tube 9 forconnecting the clust collector with the triple valve; and to preventinjury to this tube I enclose it in bands 55 of metal. In order toprovide suitable and convenient means for connecting the elements to thebeams of the car I provide integral with the compound casing of Fig. 4,a flange 56 by means of which the casing may be bolted to the beams; andon the casing 16 I provide flange 57 and 58 for a similar purpose. Inthis manner the elements may be very .firmly and rigidly xed to thebeams so as to reduce the tendency of the chief elements to moverelatively and to reduce the tendency of the elements to becomeseparated from the frame work.

Although any ordinary springmeans may be used for returning the pistonto its initial position after therbrake has been operated and released,yet I preferV for the purpose a plurality of springs 60 positionedbetween the piston and the end of the cylinder. The outer ends of thesesprings are held in place by means of pins 61, and the inner ends areheld in posit-ion by means of recesses 62 in the piston. VBy thisarrangement the springs may be readily removed from the cylinder bydetaching the end plate and slipping it outwardly until the pins 61 passout from the springs, when a broken spring may be readily removed and.another one inserted, it being unnecessary to slip the spring oliq fromthe piston rod as is common.

I claim as my invention: y l. In an air-brake mechanism, an inteV- gralcasing, comprising an air-brake cylinder and an auxiliary reservoir, asingle wall separating said reservoir, and valve controlling means forpassing compressed air from said reservoir to said cylinder.

2. In an air-brake system an auxiliary reservoir, and an air-brakecylinder integral with said reservoir, said reservoir having on one sidethereof a hollow wallforming an air tight passageway, one end of saidpassageway opening into said cylinder, and valve mechanism operativelyconnect-ing the other end of the passageway with said reservoir.

3. In an air-brake mechanism an airbra-ke cylinder, a piston mounted insaid cylinder, means operatively connecting saidY piston with awheel-brake of the mechanism, and a plurality of compression springs positioned in said cylinder between thesaid ltl Y piston and the end ofsaid cylinder, a pin fixed to the end plate of said cylinder andprojecting into each of said springs, and the piston having a pluralityof recesses thereon into each of which one of said springs projects.

t. In an air-brake mechanism an auxiliary reservoir and meanstixed toone end of said reservoir for attaching to the reservoir a valvemechanism, said means comprising a shoulder projecting inwardly from theWall of said reservoir and an opening positioned adjacent to saidshoulder and adapted to receive a bolt rotation of which is prevented bysaid shoulder.

In an air-brake mechanism an integral member comprising a strainercasing having an air inlet therein. and a cylindrical dust collector,said collector having an inlet therein substantially tangential with theinner wall of said dust collector, said inlet being connected with saidstrainer casing and said dust collector having an outlet thereon and astrainer mounted in said outlet.

G. In an air-brake mechanism, an integral member comprising a strainercasing and a dust collector casing, said member having' a passagewayconnecting said casings, said strainer casing having two openings onopposite sides thereof and having a passageway at a material angle witha line connecting said two openings.

7. In an air-brake mechanism, a dust collector, said collactor having anair inlet substantially tangential with the inner surface of the wall ofsaid collector, and said collector having an outlet in the upper centralportion thereof and having an opening` in the normally Vertical wall ofsaid collector, and closing means detachably mounted in said opening.

8. In an air-brake mechanism, a dust collector, said collector having anair inlet substantially tangential with the inner surface of the wall ofsaid collector, and said collector having an outlet in the upper centralportion thereof and having an opening in the normally vertical wall ofsaid collector adjacent the bottom thereof and materially below saidoutlet, and closing means detachably mounted in said opening and astrainer fixed to said outlet.

9. In a pneumatic air system, a dust collector comprising a cylindricalcasing, said casing having an air inlet, the axis of said inlet beingsubstantially tangential with the inner surface of the wall of saidcasing and at the upper end thereof, said casing having an outlet in thecentral portion of its upper end, and spiral ribs projecting inwardlyfrom the wall of said casing.

l0. In an air-brake mechanism, an integral member comprising a strainercasing and a dust collector, a second integral member comprising anauxiliary reservoir and an air-brake cylinder, and a flexible tubingconnecting said two integral members, said tubing haring` a flexiblearmor thereon.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH DEMARCO.

